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Frederick Douglass in Rhode Island:
A Timeline

Researched & Compiled by Robb Dimmick

Designed by Alex Gim-Fain

This Project is Funded by a Herman H. Rose Civic, Cultural, and Media Access Grant

“Frederick Douglass stole the hearts of the Rhode Island people.” 

- Abby Kelley, Abolitionist

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Monday, September 17, 1838:

Frederick Douglass arrives in and quickly departs from Newport, Rhode Island.

Wednesday, September 8, 1841:
(Date Under Review)

Frederick Douglass, traveling by train from Newburyport, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island, was beaten by railroad workers who dragged him to a car reserved for blacks.

Thursday, November 11 –
Saturday November 13, 1841:

Douglass lectures on slavery under the auspices of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society at Franklin Hall in Providence.

Friday, November 19 –
Saturday November 20, 1841:

Douglass lectures at the Dorrite “People’s Convention” in Providence.

Thursday, December 2 –
Friday December 3, 1841:

Woonsocket, Regional Anti-Slavery Convention to protest the Dorr Constitution, (current site of 99 South Main Street).

Tuesday, December 7, 1841:

North Scituate, Free Will Baptist Church, Regional Anti-Slavery Convention to protest the Dorr Constitution.

Tuesday, December 14, 1841:

Fiskeville & Phenix, Regional Anti-Slavery Convention to protest the Dorr Constitution.

Wednesday, December 15, 1841:

East Greenwich, Regional Anti-Slavery Convention to protest the Dorr Constitution.

Tuesday, December 21 –Wednesday, December 22, 1841:

Kingston, Regional Anti-Slavery Convention to protest the Dorr Constitution.

Friday, December 24 – Saturday, December 25, 1841:

Newport, Regional Anti-Slavery Convention to protest the Dorr Constitution.

Sunday, December 27 – Monday, December 28, 1841:

Providence, Regional Anti-Slavery Convention to protest the Dorr Constitution.

1842:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

Douglass attempts to speak in Newport during the Dorr Rebellion crisis, but was turned away by anti-abolitionist rioters.

Sunday, November 6–18, 1842:

Annual Meeting, RI Anti-Slavery Society, Providence Town Hall. Following the November 8th meeting, Douglass wrote his first public letter, defending fugitive slave George Latimer.

December, 1842:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

Douglass Lectures in Rhode Island.

Sunday, February 19, 1843:

The first in a series of evening lectures on slavery under the auspices of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society opens at Franklin Hall in Providence. More than 500 people are recorded to be in attendance.
 

Sunday, February 26, 1843:

Douglass lectures on slavery for a second time under the auspices of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society at Westminster Hall in Providence. Douglass said of the event; “It was crowded with a highly respectable and intelligent audience.”

Sunday, March 5, 1843:

"Hundreds were turned away for want of room" at Douglass' third lecture on slavery under the auspices of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society at Franklin Hall in Providence.

Saturday, March 18, 1843:

Douglass attends executive committee meeting of the RI Anti-Slavery Society, Providence.

Sunday, March 19, 1843:

Douglass lectures on slavery under the auspices of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society at Franklin Hall in Providence. Tickets sold for crowd control.

Sunday, March 26, 1843:

Douglass lectures on: "Colonization and its connection with slavery, and the degradation of the colored people of the United States" under the auspices of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society in Providence. It was noted that selling tickets to this event was unsuccessful, so seating was once again free.

Sunday, April 2, 1843:

Douglass' final lecture under the auspices of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society is held Providence, and entitled: "The Progress of the Cause."

Wednesday, April 12, 1843:

In East Greenwich, Abolitionists quickly mobilized to defeat the whites-only People’s Constitution, and the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society held a convention in November to organize their resistance. The American Anti-Slavery Society appointed Frederick Douglass to oversee a set of conventions to be held in Newport, Woonsocket, North Scituate, Fiskville and Phenix, Kingston, and Providence. Throughout the state, the events were met with vicious protests. In Newport, threats of violence began when the local convention was announced. Mobs then shut down the first two days of the convention, and followed abolitionists to their homes. On the third day, mobs again closed the convention and the abolitionists were forced to retreat.

Wednesday, April 12 – Thursday, April 13, 1843:

Douglass lectures in East Greenwich before the RI Anti-Slavery Society.

Sunday, December 17, 1843:

Speaks for the Little Compton Female Anti-Slavery Society at Little Compton's 3rd Methodist Church on the Common. He spent the night at the home of Benjamin Franklin and Abby Maria Wilbour on West Main Road.

Friday, March 29 –
Sunday, March 31, 1844:

Douglass Lectures in Pawtucket with Stephen S. Foster and Charles C. Burleigh.

Thursday, August 1, 1844:

Douglass is invited to be chief speaker for a celebration in Providence (subject of celebration needs further research), but did not attend, a decision that left many Providence Blacks “much aggrieved” as reported in the Liberator August 16. Douglass wrote to the Liberator (August 31st) that he “deeply regretted” missing the meeting and explained his absence.

Wednesday, November 20 – Saturday, November 23, 1844:

Douglass lectures at Mechanics’ Hall in Providence before the RI Anti-Slavery annual meeting.

November, 1845:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

Appears with Soujourner Truth (her first documented anti-slavery speech) at the RI Anti-Slavery Society in Providence.

December, 1851:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

While very ill, Douglass delivers an unusual lecture in Providence that bared his spiritual soul, saying “I have been for the past year under a cloud… [I have] destroyed in myself that very reverence for God and for religion.” 

1858–1863:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

Sometime during this period, Douglass spoke at the African American Union Congregational Church at 49 Division Street in Newport.

Saturday, December 22, 1860:

Douglass pens a letter to African American Mary Ann C. Rice Remington of Newport, whose husband, Henry O Remington, had just died the previous month.

Saturday, November 30, 1861:

Douglass appears at Armory Hall, at the Young Men’s Christian Association in Westerly.

Friday, December 11, 1868:

Douglass delivers his "Women and Negroes Must Work Together" speech in Providence at the Rhode Island Woman’s Suffrage Convention. See the speech here: Women and Negroes Must Work Together: A Speech Delivered in Providence, Rhode Island on December 11, 1868 · Digital Edition · Frederick Douglass Papers Project

Tuesday, December 29, 1868:

Douglass appears in Woonsocket.

1873:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

Following his speech in Westerly, Douglass stays at the home of abolitionist Charles Perry, now the Margin Street Inn at 4 Margin Street.

Friday, December 5, 1873:

Douglass appears at the Newport Opera House, at an event sponsored by the Union Congregational Church.

Thursday, November 6, 1879:

Douglass is a distinguished guest along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton at the Rhode Island Woman (sic) Suffrage Association Annual Meeting in Providence.

1881:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

Douglass is photographed by Alexander Clark Brownell in his studio at 90 Westminster Street in Providence.

Summer, 1883:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

Douglass sits for a portrait by Sarah Eddy at the home of her father in Providence.

Wednesday, February 6 – Thursday, February 7, 1884:
 

Douglass visits the home of the Buffum Chace's, abolitionists in Valley Falls, RI following Wendell Phillips' funeral. 

Wednesday, December 3 – Thursday December 4, 1884:

Douglass attends the Women's Suffrage meeting at the (Old) State House in Providence. He delivers his "The Greatest Revolution the World Has Yet Seen" speech. The attendance was so large that there was an overflow meeting and Douglass spoke at both. See speech here: The Greatest Revolution the World Has Yet Seen: An Address Delivered in Providence, Rhode Island, on December 3, 1884 · Digital Edition · Frederick Douglass Papers Project

1889:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

A sculpture of Douglass by artist Stanley W. Edwards is cast by Smith Granite Company in Westerly, placed on a pedestal of Westerly Blue Granite and erected in Rochester, NY.

Circa 1895:
(Exact Date Yet to be Determined)

William H. Purdy and Leonard C. Peters, both Black men of Providence, RI, design and patent the Frederick Douglass spoon. 
https://myauctionfinds.com/2015/10/30/reader-seeks-pedigree-of-frederick-douglass-souvenir-spoon/

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